WEBVTT
PREPORTER: IT'S STRONGER THAN
PHEROIN
PAND ONE-THOUSAND TIMES STRONGER
PTHAN MORPHINE.
PFENTANYL IS A PHARMACEUTICAL
PDRUG USED TO TREAT CHRONIC PAIN.
PBUT IT'S MAKING IT'S WAY INTO
PNEW MEXICO AS AN ILLEGAL
PSUBSTANCE.
P>> RIGHT NOW, WHAT WE'RE SEEING
PIS CHEMISTS, I BELIEVE MOST OF
PTHEM ARE FROM CHINA, WHO A
PMANUFACTURING AND IMPORTING IT
PINTO THE UNITED STATES
PREPORTER: THE DRUG ENFORCEMENT
PADMINISTRATION BELIEVES
PILLEGALLY MANUFACTURED FENTANYL
PIS ALSO COMING FROM MEXICO.
PTHEY'RE SEEING IT IN FAKE
POXYCODONE PILL
PBUYERS GETTING THE PILLS ON THE
PSTREET HAVE NO IDEA, THEY'RE
PLACED WITH THE DEADLY DRUG.
P>> PEOPLE ARE DYING, NOT ONLY IN
PNEW MEXICO, BUT THROUGHOUT THE
PCOUNTRY.
PREPORTER: THE OFFICE OF THE
PMEDICAL INVESTIGATOR SAYS THE
PILLEGALLY MANUFACTURED DRUG
PCAUSED 20 DIFFERENT DEATHS
PTHROUGHOUT THE STATE, INCLUDING
PFIVE IN BERNALILLO COUNTY, ONE
PIN SANDOVAL COUNTY, AND ANOTHER
PIN SANTA FE.
PIF YOU TOOK ONE OF THESE SUGAR
PPACKETS AND BROKE IT DOWN INTO
P1,000 PIECES, JUST ONE PIECE OF
PFENTANYL COULD KILL YOU.
PILLEGALLY MANUFACTURED FENTANYL
PIS EVEN STRONGER THAN THAT.
PTHE ILLEGALLY MANUFACTURED DRUG
PIS SO STRONG, THE DEPARTMENT OF
PHEALTH SAYS IT REQUIRES MULTIPLE
PDOSES OF NALOXONE, THAT'S THE
PDRUG THAT REVERSES THE EFFECT OF
PAN OPIOID OVERDOSE.
PTHE DRUG IS STRONGER AND CHEAPER
PTHOUGH, WHICH MAKES IT
PDANGEROUSLY MORE APPEALING.
PIN ALBUQUERQUE, SANDRA RAMIREZ,

An illegal drug that’s stronger than heroin, and one thousand times stronger than morphine, is believed to be the cause of twenty different deaths across New Mexico this year.

Fentanyl is a pharmaceutical drug used to treat chronic pain, but now it’s making its way into New Mexico as an illegal substance.

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“Right now, what we're seeing is chemists, I believe most of them are from China, who are manufacturing and importing it into the United States,” Dr. Brandon Warrick, MD, Associate Medical Director of the New Mexico Poison Center.

The Drug Enforcement Administration believes illegally manufactured Fentanyl is also coming from Mexico.

A DEA agent said they are seeing it in fake Oxycodone pills. Buyers getting their pills on the street have no idea if they’re laced with deadly doses of the drug.

“People are dying, not only in New Mexico, but throughout the country,” said Warrick.

The New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator said the illegally manufactured drug is believed to be the cause of death in 20 different cases throughout the state this year, including five in Bernalillo County, one in Sandoval County, and another in Santa Fe

The illegally manufactured drug is so strong, the New Mexico Department of Health said it requires multiple doses of Naloxone, the drug that reverses the effect of an opioid overdose.

Illegally manufactured Fentanyl is stronger and cheaper though, which Warrick said makes it dangerously more appealing.

“I think there is a group of people who, as prescription opioids become harder to get, are left with the choice between, ‘Do I try to buy some pills off of a friend, or somebody off the street, or off the internet, or do I start making a turn to heroin?’ when they’re unable to get some, and people tend not to want to turn to heroin,” said Warrick.